First Snow
by Enchanted Disaster
Summary: Probably a one shot. Kagome is seperated from the group and stuck in her era and Inuyasha thinks she's dead. What happens when he finds out she's not?


Kagome walked out into the peculiar warm weather of November and smiled. The last week had been amazingly warm and felt as if spring was already upon them, even before winter sank its teeth into them. A small frown formed upon her lips as she began to wish a little that it would snow like it usually did and grant her one day off from school. A snow day would make her completely happy for at least the duration of a day.

For the past year her life had been a wreck and dull. A grimace crossed her features as she made her way to school and thought back on what had happened around the same time of year that it was right now.

_They had been finishing up retrieving the last remnants of the shard and hunting down Naraku. The weather was growing colder and Kagome had wanted nothing but to just cuddle down in her home and sleep and drink hot cocoa. Of course Inuyasha didn't understand and pushed them harder. He'd been on edge since the last time he'd spotted Kikyo and the relationship between Kagome and Inuyasha was full of tension. _

_She remembered shivering as she continued to walk on, thanking whatever god had made it so it wasn't snowing and windy as well. Cold weather was her least favorite type of temperature and she often complained and became rather dour when it came to this type of thing. _

_Her toes felt as if they would stiffen up a little further and break off and she sighed in relief as Sango finally spoke up, "It's getting pretty dark Inuyasha, and Kagome looks like she'll freeze and die. I feel the same as she looks, and I for one would like to find a place to stop for the night and warm up." _

_Inuyasha looked towards Kagome and scowled, "Well, maybe if she'd wear something a bit more appropriate for the temperature, she wouldn't be cold!" He hadn't even answered Sango's question about whether or not they would stop that night inside yet. The whole group felt for Kagome, because any mention of her name would send Inuyasha to insulting her. He'd always been rude to her, but now he was just plain mean all the time._

_Kagome's eyes grew a little foggy with a few un-cried tears and she looked away from everyone else and snuffled a little. Every day her enthusiasm leaked a little and her confidence drained from her soul. Every word from his lips froze her heart a little further and she was beginning to become as cold as the weather outside. Her features stoned themselves into a controlled look of ignorance._

_Miroku grimaced and he realized how much Inuyasha's words hurt the girl. It seemed her cheerful bouncy demeanor disappeared a little bit every day, and that her smile dimmed a little more with every insult that flew her way from Inuyasha, "If you'd given her the chance to go to her time, I'm sure she would have gotten something better. Now, I know a village nearby that will allow us to stay the night. Kagome, we'll get you some warmer clothes while we're there." _

_Inuyasha scoffed and growled out, "We would have had time to let her go to her era if she'd learn how to do her job and find the rest of the sacred jewel shards." _

_Sango sent him and angry glare and actually hit him, a very unusual thing for her to do. Neither Miroku nor Sango ever really said anything or did anything against Inuyasha, because they usually respected his judgment. She went to Kagome and slipped part of her own cloak over the girls shoulders to warm her a bit, "Ok, Miroku. Where is this village?" _

_"Just a few miles down the road. Lady Kagome! You look positively blue, why didn't you tell us before?" Miroku slowly approached her and he also threw half his cloak over the girl's shoulders. She wore her same short skirt but had long socks that went up past her knees and the same blouse. She had toughened herself and acted like the cold didn't bother her, when really her skin was raw from the blasts of wind that were sent her way. _

_Inuyasha growled and shoved them away from Kagome and took off his own red haori and put it grudgingly over her shoulders and muttered, "Stupid wench." _

_Her eyes had lit up and she thanked him and before they knew it they were all at the village. All of them warmed up and cleaned up and then ate before going to bed. About halfway through the night Kagome woke up, shivering in her very warm bed. There was something weird about the air and her curiosity got the best of her as she stood up from her bed. _

_The warm night clothes she had on felt suffocating so she went through her things and grabbed the priestess' clothes Kaede had given her. For some odd reason she put them on, and she told herself that is was only because they were warmer than her uniform and that she hadn't gotten any warm day clothes yet. _

_With that she slipped on her socks and sandals and ran outside to see that the world was beginning to become covered in a blanket of snow. She loved the snow and decided to wander further outside the walls of the palace like place they had been housed in. She was a ways out from the safety of the palace when she felt that strange feeling again. _

_It took her a few minutes to finally realize that one of the feelings she was getting was that of the jewel shard. And a very, very large chunk of it too. The only person that had that much of the shard would have to be Naraku and it was far too late for her to turn and run from it. _

_A cold cackle gained her attention and she whipped around to face Naraku, his squinty eyes boring into her own large, brown ones. He stepped forward, melting all the snow around him with each step he took. He smirked when he realized she was frozen in fear and he gripped her chin in one of his hands, turning her rebellious face from one angle to another, "Hello Kagome. That's your name, isn't it? You've gotten prettier since I last saw you. And your power is growing. Best destroy you while your power is young, eh? Wouldn't want you granting Inuyasha a lucky advantage." _

_Her whole body shook with the cold and her fear before she spat in his face, "I don't know what you're talking about Naraku, but you'd better let go of me!" _

_"You have a temper on you also? Where did that come from? I've been watching you, and you've come across as a very meek girl. Being around Inuyasha must be spoiling you." He grinned maliciously and traced a nail through the milky skin along her jugular, cutting into just the skin and letting some of the miasma seep into her blood. _

_Instantaneously she gripped her neck with her hand and started to cough violently, an endless itch embedded in her neck and there was nothing she could do to get rid of it. She felt her arms beginning to become limp and she knew what she had to do before she became completely immobile. As she grabbed for an arrow she realized that she'd left her bow and quiver inside. _

"_I had one of my demons lead you out here. Far enough so that none of your friends will hear your screams." He smirked and cupped her face slightly, "A shame Inuyasha doesn't care enough about you to follow you out here. He woke up and watched you leave and went back to sleep. I suppose Kikyo is better than you. Or should I say was?" _

_She gasped and tried to shove away from his firm grasp, "You… Couldn't have!" _

"_Oh yes, Kagome. I killed her when she was weakened from lack of souls. Did you know that I had killed most of the humans that provided her body with souls? So I stopped my killings for a day or two. It worked wonderfully, and I just simply went up to her and cut her to pieces. You know who she screamed for? For you, my dear. She knew her powers would transfer to you and that you'd be in danger… Oh, because you had many powers before but you couldn't unlock them, due to them being dormant without their other half. The one Kikyo stole from you. But, you haven't noticed them at all yet, have you?" _

_He traced his finger over her lips and she bit it hard, but immediately spat it back out when the miasma began to seep slightly through. Her mouth was seered and she cried out harshly in agony and attempted to writhe in her pain but was held still. The longer she was held still, the more the burning increased in her mouth and through her blood. _

"_A lovely feeling, isn't it Kagome? You're dying. But it's better that way, isn't it? That's what you've been thinking lately. You're right, Inuyasha will never love you, and that's the only reason you live, isn't it? With that one, pathetic hope that he'll care for you one day as you care for him." A sharp laugh came from his throat as he continued to trace miasma into her blood stream, "You and I are alike that way. I wanted Kikyo, but she'd never have me because she wanted somebody else. I wasn't good enough for her. But I've gotten rid of those foolish human emotions and once I killed Kikyo I realized I just lusted her. Amusing, isn't it?_

"_I don't want to die. I want to live so I can kill you!" She spat out through gasps of pain, her knees buckling slightly from the pain. _

"_What are you willing to do not to die? Maybe do a few little tasks for me?" He would love to convince Kagome into working for him. It would be even sweeter to see the look on Inuyasha's face when he realized that his woman had turned against him._

"_NEVER! I'd rather die than work for you!" She was struggling even harder against him and soon she heard yelling from close by, the sound of Inuyasha's voice hitting her ears. He'd come, but just too late. She sank to the ground of the floor, gasping and gripping her throat, her nails digging into it, trying to rip the poisoned skin and blood out of her. _

_Her eyes became blurred but she could hear everything clearly, Naraku cackling above her form, "Oh, Inuyasha! How pleasant to see you. Surprised to see your beloved writhing on the ground? Isn't it just pleasing to see the way the humans react to my miasma? Such a violent reaction compared to demons and half demons. I was surprised to see that she's lasted this long. Don't worry, she doesn't have much longer. Isn't it ironic? You lose both your women within the duration of a few weeks. Kikyo, first. And then Kagome." _

_"You bastard!" Inuyasha heaved and knew he could take Naraku down with his new barrage technique but Kagome was in the way. He felt his heart ripping as he watched her gripping at her throat, gasping and crying slightly from the pain. _

_"I'll have to thank you for Kagome's death though. You played such a major role in it, too. Once I cut Kikyo to bits, the rest of Kagome's soul and powers returned to her. She could have come into them and destroyed me easily tonight, but since you were oh so cruel to her, she wasn't able to notice them. The way you beat down her confidence made it too hard for her to feel the new power that lay inside her. Mmmm, how ironic. Truth be told, you were really the one to deal the final blow. Why don't you do it literally and save her the pain?" Naraku gripped Kagome by her hair and dragged her slightly to her feet, enjoying the sounds of utter discomfort he got from her. _

_Her throat was closing up and her breath was coming in, in squeaking gasps. She writhed against Naraku and finally got enough strength to pull her hands from her throat and grab his wrists. She looked straight into Inuyasha's eyes as she let go of all her emotions. _

_Naraku was beginning to panic as he realized that he couldn't pry the girls hands from his wrists. She was doing something odd and it wasn't until it was too late until he could feel the power radiating from her. As soon as he saw the bright purple light he knew he was dead. _

_And then there was an explosion of light and Naraku was gone, leaving Kagome to collapse onto the ground with the full jewel shard resting in the palm of her hand. She remembered looking up at the sky and watching the snow fall towards her like flower petals. _

_He had come to her side and was saying something she could barely understand. He was talking about being sorry and regretting all the mean things he'd said and that she couldn't die. That she was being stupid and selfish if she did. _

_And then everything he was saying was muted and all she could hear was the fall of the snowflakes. She gripped a loch of his hair and pulled him closer to her and she said lightly, "I got you the jewel. Here, now I'm not so worthless." She smiled up at him and brought a shaking hand over to his and opened his hand then held his hand for a moment. After a few seconds of both of them being silent, tears rushing down his face, she pulled her hand away and closed his hand around the jewel._

_The last thing she heard was her telling him she loved him and then only one word coming from his lips, "Kagome,…" _

_And then she had faded from that life and left it. Little did she know, but Inuyasha had returned her love and said that too, right after she passed. He'd carried her to the palace place and the whole group had mourned and cried for her, but Inuyasha shut himself off from the world. When they went back to Kaede's village he'd tried to take her body back to her era but for some reason he couldn't any longer. It was then that he finally realized that she was gone for good. And after he buried her beneath the God tree he promised to never forget her._

Back in the feudal era Inuyasha was sharing the same memory and was hauling logs into the village for Kaede and others. The jewel of the four souls rested heavily on his chest along with his usual necklace. The one that Kagome had used to sit him with.

Today was the day that he decided he would take it off. There was no use in keeping it on anyways, and the demons that came into the village to attack would always think he was becoming soft. They wouldn't take him serious and it usually affected his fighting skills. Without her by his side, he wasn't half the warrior he used to be.

He could become a full demon with the jewel, but ever since he'd known the love for Kagome, he'd lost the inclination to do anything of the sort. She'd loved him for who he was and now he had to accept himself. He would never do anything that Kagome didn't like.

He hauled himself into Kaede's hut and all of the occupants looked up at him. Sango and Miroku were huddled together, talking about their upcoming baby he supposed. Beside them was Shippo, who he himself had taken under his wing. The runt was becoming a good little fighter, despite the poor teaching Inuyasha had been giving due to his depression.

Inuyasha had lost the will to fight and had almost lost the will to live a few times. Nothing seemed right in his world anymore. He realized that Kikyo's death had been nothing close to this. Without Kagome everything seemed utterly wrong and vile.

His life seemed incomplete without her, and it wasn't until she'd died that he'd realized that. Because he had to be a stupid, stubborn hanyou. It was his fault that she was dead. It was his choice to let her walk out there on her own on that cold, fateful night. It was his fault that she hadn't come into her powers so she could destroy Naraku sooner. It was his fault and everything was horribly wrong because of it.

Even as he entered the hut the group knew that he'd been thinking of Kagome again because he looked more down than usual. His ears drooped slightly and he wore a horrid scowl across his face to cover up the deep pitted sadness he felt. But everything he felt was shown in his deep expressive golden eyes.

They all waited patiently until he finished placing all the wood at the fireplace and spoke, "Hag, take off this stupid charm necklace."

Kaede hesitantly stood up from her place and looked at the half demon in front of her. They all knew that the necklace meant a lot to him, and it wasn't expected that he'd ever part with it. She nodded her head solemnly and reached her hands up to his neck, "Are ye sure Inuyasha?"

"Yes, now get it over with. I don't need it anyways." He averted his eyes from the entire group and leaned slightly down so the older woman could remove it from his neck.

She began to pull it off when it suddenly stopped right at his eye level. She thought it had gotten caught on a piece of his hair and checked all around the piece of jewelry and discovered that it wasn't caught on anything. She began to tug at it strongly, wondering what it was catching on.

"What is taking you so long, hag?" His voice was irritated as he looked at the necklace dangling in front of his eyes.

She tugged a few more times and realized he wasn't flinching at all, which meant that it hadn't snagged on anything. She slowly let go of the necklace, her hands shaking violently, "Inuyasha…"

"What?! Why did you stop trying to take it off? Hurry up!"

"Inuyasha, I have something very important to tell ye…" Her voice was barely above a whisper as she looked at Inuyasha and wondered if it would be best to tell him.

"What is it, hag? It can't be that important that you won't take it off!"

"Aye, it is child…" She made him stand up straight and then backed up a few steps and looked out the window before she said hurriedly, "I must go check something first, wait here."

They all watched, perplexed, as the old woman rushed out the door of her hut and jumped onto her horse. They were galloping off before any of them could ask her any more questions. She continued until she reached the God tree and got off her horse as quickly as her old bones would carry her. On top of the grave were many flowers growing up, and she noticed with her priestess' vision that there was a distinct glow.

Her breath hitched in her throat and she gasped, saying to herself, "She never died!"

With that she came galloping back to the village and came limping into the hut since she'd put her old bones to a strain. Inuyasha and the others looked to her with curiousity and she shook her head, holding her head, "There is only one reason as to why the prayer beads will not come off your neck."

"Yah, and what is that reason, hag?" Inuyasha crossed his arms and stared grumpily at the old woman. He just thought that she was too weak and old to remove them from his neck.

"The only reason for this to happen is that Lady Kagome is not dead, and never has been." Her voice was grave and serious, but she knew that Inuyasha wouldn't believe her yet.

He was growling nervously as he scowled at her, "Don't play such a fucking dumb trick! Of course she's… We buried her! She wasn't breathing!"

"Yes, I know we buried her body. But I never took into consideration that she came from another time. She must have gone back to her own time to survive the attack. Remember the way the stars were acting so odd on the night that we buried her? That must have been when her body transgressed back to her own time to join together again! She never died!" Kaede was shaking in excitement as she looked towards them all.

Inuyasha slowly soaked it all in and he sat down heavily, holding his head in his hands, "You mean she's still alive? That she's only in her time?"

Miroku and Sango and Shippo were all smiling gleefully and couldn't believe what they were hearing. Sango was beginning to cry with relief.

"Aye! Ye never tried to wish her back with the jewel. Ye only tried to wish her back to life! And it failed only because she was already alive!" The old woman was beside herself with excitement. She had come to think of Kagome as her own daughter.

Inuyasha stared down at the shikon shard in his hand and said in a meek voice, "You mean all this time I could have wished her back? I could have… Held her in my arms?"

The old woman nodded solemnly and Inuyasha immediately stood up and stalked out of the hut. Silence returned to the hut as they watched him disappear. Outside Inuyasha stalked to the God tree and felt one tear drip down his face.

He growled at the sky and then bent down to the ground to sniff at her grave. It was true, her body was no longer there! She wasn't there! Did that honestly mean she was alive still and well?

It was then that he knew what he would do with the jewel. He lifted it up to eyelevel and looked at it and said seriously and passionately, "I want Kagome by my side forever, till the end of time."

His whole world shook and snow began to fall down onto the barren ground below.

Back in Kagome's time she had made her way back home from her school and was standing in the yard, wondering what she would do that weekend. Nothing interesting of course. She sighed and felt an ache deep within her heart at the thought of what she used to do on the weekends.

A sudden cold draft caught her skirt slightly and it moved aggressively against her legs with the wind. And then a snow flake dropped down out of the sky, and then another, and then another until the whole world was covered in a blurry of snowflakes.

She was about to return to her house before she said to herself slowly, "That's odd… It's been so warm lately!" And for some reason she made her way to the God tree to look at it.

Sakura petals and snow mixed and suddenly she felt a pressing ache on her heart, beyond the usual feeling of just being lonely. Her eyes slowly looked up from the ground to ahead of her, where her eyes instantly caught on a red piece of fabric and an annoyed, tapping foot with claws.

Instantly she thought she was hallucinating and began to turn away, holding her head and crying silently. She hadn't had these sort of day dreams for a month or two and now they were coming on again. She never remembered dreaming up his feet perfectly. Since she'd never really looked at them when she was with him, she could never picture them perfectly. For some reason, the dream she'd just had seemed to portray his feet perfectly.

Suddenly his voice flooded her hearing again, "Hey, where you going? It's been too long for you to just… to just turn and walk away from me, you stupid wench!" His voice was breaking up as he remained leaning against the tree, trying to keep his cool. There she was, standing right in front of him with her back turned to him, and the smell of salty tears was beginning to reach his nose along with her well remembered scent of violets and a little bit of vanilla. She was alive alright.

She knew she shouldn't do it, but she turned and indulged herself and her dream. She shook her head sadly and allowed the tears to continue to flow from her beautiful deep brown eyes, "You're not real." But gods, he seemed so real. He'd even called her wench, which she never remembered dreaming of when she thought of him. Those shocking golden eyes, watering a bit. Watering up a bit? What? Was she dreaming the Inuyasha was about to cry? She'd never do that, because he never cried.

He took a few steps towards her and was foot away from her and he slowly said, "Of course I am, you idiot!" He wanted nothing but to slam her up against his chest and make sure that she really was alive and well. But he was waiting. For what, he didn't know.

"You… Really are real!" She was now sobbing and he crushed her up against his chest, holding her so tightly that she never thought he'd let her go. And she didn't want him to either.

He let a few of the stubborn tears clear his eyes and he kissed the top of her head, while hugging her tightly, "I… Gods I thought you were dead Kagome! I thought I'd never see you again!"

"I thought I was lost to your world! Inuyasha, it was so horrible living without you!"

"I… I need to tell you something that you didn't get to hear before you… Before you left me." He Finally loosened his grip on her a bit to hold her at arms length, staring into her tearing eyes, "I can't live without beside my side. Without you I'm nothing, and it wasn't until you left me that I realized this… And that I realized how much I… Well that I love you!"

"Inuyasha…" Her eyes became enormous and she was shivering with happiness and cold as he interrupted her.

The interruption was surprising because he quickly told her, "Shut up." Before he crushed his lips against hers with an intensity that could seer anybody. They remained like that for a while, in the others arms in a long awaited kiss.


End file.
